Report reveals sharp increase in executions

In a shocking move, an Egyptian court has sentencing 529 supporters of the previous president to death. Now it's emerged, that this is just one part of a grim picture about state sanctioned killings worldwide. Amnesty International has just released its annual review of the death penalty. It reveals a sharp increase in the number of executions in 2013.

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ELEANOR HALL: When the Egyptian court sentenced 529 supporters of the previous president to death it shocked even backers of the government.

Now it's emerged that this is just one part of a grim picture about state-sanctioned killings worldwide.

Amnesty International has just released its annual review of the death penalty. It reveals a sharp increase in the number of executions in 2013.

Europe correspondent Mary Gearin was there for the release of the report in London.

MARY GEARIN: When it comes to state-sanctioned executions, 2013 was a particularly deadly year, according to Amnesty International's Audrey Gaughran, director of global issues.

AUDREY GAUGHRAN: During 2013, 778 people were executed in 22 countries. That's almost 100 more people than in 2012.

MARY GEARIN: Amnesty says people faced the death penalty for a range of non-lethal crimes including robbery, drug-related and economic offences, as well as adultery and blasphemy.

Amnesty's total doesn't include the thousands of executions that it says occur secretly in China. The human rights group says that country puts more people to death that every other country put together.

But Audrey Gaughran says countries that carry out the death penalty are going against a long-term tide.

AUDREY GAUGHRAN: While the bad news in 2013 is worrying, the negative developments that we have recorded are generally confined to a small isolated group of states. Excluding China almost 80 per cent of all of the executions in 2013 were carried out in just three countries - Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia.

MARY GEARIN: In Iran the number of deaths rose 18 per cent from 2012 and Iraq they rose 30 per cent to the highest level since 2003.

Jan Wetzel is an Amnesty expert on the Middle East and Africa, and he says there are no clues that this trend in these countries will stop.

JAN WETZEL: No, on the contrary, this may actually get worse. In Iraq the government essentially says we need the death penalty to fight terrorism and to fight the increased violence and armed insurgency, which however defeats the whole premise because they say the death penalty is a deterrent and the level of violence should actually go down, well, it doesn't.

In the wake of statements from president Goodluck Jonathan approving a resumption of executions, four men were hanged there last year, the first executions in the country for seven years.

Jan Wetzel hopes it's not the start of anything worse.

JAN WETZEL: The four executions in Nigeria on June 2013 were in one state, Edo state, however other state governors had expressed a willingness to resume executions as well and we worked very hard to try to prevent that.

So far no other state in Nigeria has resumed executions.

MARY GEARIN: Audrey Gaughran says there is more internal debate in countries with the death penalty, and she is hopeful about new momentum within grassroots movements.

AUDREY GAUGHRAN: We see more and more activism against the death penalty. We see more and more people connecting with each other and I think that's one of the positive trends that I would highlight.

MARY GEARIN: A heartening prospect for many but not perhaps for those in Egypt, where 529 people were sentenced to death earlier this week.

Jan Wetzel says such a mass order stands in contrast to the relatively few death sentences in Egypt over the past few years.

JAN WETZEL: Usually about 100. This just shows you that a batch of 529 death sentences in one single case on a single day is just grotesque and completely out of the ordinary even for Egypt.

MARY GEARIN: A sign that next year's Amnesty review may bear even more grim news.